Benji loves riding a three-wheeled scooter. He rides it all over the place, accompanying us on short neighborhood walks as well as zipping around my parents’ neighborhood visiting friends. Someday he may learn to ride a bike, but for now, the scooter keeps him moving.

Yesterday afternoon, as we got ready to head over to my parents’ house for our traditional Friday pasta dinner, Ian and I facetiously suggested that Benji could scoot there. He immediately latched onto the idea. I said if he really wanted to, I’d walk with him, but he couldn’t change his mind halfway.

He didn’t.

Here he starts off bright-eyed and bushy-tailed:

Here he is, two miles later, zipping through the neighborhood just a little ways from the end.

I expected him to poop out and give up at some point, but he never did. Instead, he impressed me with his responsible following directions, waiting at intersections, checking driveways, and regrouping when he got too far ahead. The route involves one section on a busy road with a wide shoulder but no traffic, and he did a great job staying on my left, on the far side of the shoulder from traffic, the entire time.

In short, we arrived cheerful and triumphant, with the pleasant glow of accomplishment burnishing our features. I’d guess the fact that the route trends steadily downhill might have something to do with that.

But in any case, when we got there, he announced he wanted to scoot to Grammy and Papa’s house. It’s an easy bike ride, but for people essentially on foot, it’d take some time — I estimate it’s about 10 to 12 miles there. Maybe we’ll save that for when he finally masters bicycle riding.